Infinite Stratos: Astra Exodus
by abodo
Summary: One sin gives birth to the new age. The new age gives birth to many sins. A twisted aspiration turns the world on its head. What happens when an existing power is challenged by another?


"Wake up."

Awareness quickly kicks in as a young man notes that the sunlight is hitting his face directly. The backs of his eyelids look searing red, reminding him of things he'd rather not. The teen opens his eyes and sees surroundings he isn't used to.

The soft bed he's on, the work desks across from him, the homey feel of the walls and the roof, even the panoramic window to the side which came complete with a balcony and heavy curtains that were filtering the sunlight. No steel doors, lumpy cots, no white washed walls, no barred windows. It was weird to him.

"Wow, you're a morning person aren't you?", the teen's room mate looked disheveled as both fixed their beds. "Sorry about waking you up so early, specially since you got here so late last night.", the teen's room mate started.

The young man just grunted, "I'm used to it.". He yawned a bit. Despite saying he was used to it, there would be no denying his fatigue. 'Late last night' actually meant 'practically dawn'. So the teen only had roughly three hours of sleep. Awkward flight times were bad enough but the young man was only hitching a ride and his companion decided being a good samaritan was in order. So she handed their 5:00 P.M. flight to an elderly couple for an 8:00 P.M. one. When they reached Japan it was already well past midnight. Then they got lost for another two hours. He blamed his companion for everything. Why couldn't she just accept the government's help?

"Oh yeah! We weren't able to introduce each other yesterday.", the room mate tried to break the ice. "My name's Orimura Ichika.", Ichika extended his hand out to the young man.

The teen looked at the offered hand and cautiously took it. "Rong.", the two shook hands firmly.

Silence followed and it seemed to be an oppressive one. It was awkward as both males stared one another in the eye while still gripping each others' hand.

"Please let go of my hand."

"Um...oh!", Ichika started again as he released the captive limb, "Sorry about that.". It was written all over Ichika's face that he had expected a more elaborate introduction. "Anyway it really surprised me when you just came knocking at the door. I wasn't expecting anyone at that time so I freaked out when you just barged into my room and collapsed on the bed."

Rong was busy folding his sheets as he contemplated whether to reply. Well, his companion did say that this was rehabilitation to re-enter normal society so keeping the conversation going would probably be better. "Carrying a girl three-inches taller than oneself for three miles at the dead of night tends to tire one out.", Rong half-explained.

"Oh.", was Ichika's confused response. The Japanese youth finished fixing his bed. "I'll be using the bathroom first then.".

Rong nodded, "Go ahead.".

Ichika sighed, "This probably isn't the best start in friendship building.". Then again when it came to him, things never did start out simple.

* * *

><p>Rong stands in front of the room. All eyes are on him as the teacher asked him to introduce himself earlier. "My name is Rong.", Rong stood quietly. He felt the same air of expectation that his room mate had given him during the introduction in their dorm, only this time it was about thirty times worse. Problem was he was clueless as to what to say, other than name and position he wasn't really used to introductions.<p>

Sensing his troubles, the teacher quickly offered up to the class. "So, does anyone have a question for Rong-san?".

Quickly the whole classroom turned into one large sea of excited chatters and giggles. Rong found it frightening and at the same time puzzling. One of them raised their arms and asked, "Hey, you're really a guy right?".

The young man wasn't quite sure how to approach that question. It felt loaded and he was quite confident he misheard. "Um...what was that again?".

"Sorry,", the girl who asked was now crimson faced, "There was a guy who transferred to class 1-1 just a few weeks ago and it turns out he's a girl.".

"Oh.", Rong mouthed, the young man knew he wasn't exactly normal but seriously. What?

Another girl raised her hand, not bothering to wait for recognition she asked, "Are you Chinese?".

Rong scratched his head, "To an extent, yes, I am.".

"To an extent?"

"I think I'm purely Chinese by descent but right now my citizenship is blank."

"Blank? Why?"

The boy scrounged his brain for an answer. He wasn't exactly at liberty to discuss things since he was technically still a prisoner. At the same time he wasn't bound by oath to silence either. Fillia also said that he needed to be more open with people. Dear God this is confusing him. "Well, I don't think I should be saying this out loud but.", he scratched his head, "I'm an international criminal currently under the custody of the American government.".

Silence ensued for a total of ten seconds. Nobody seemed to expect that, not even the teacher. Then like wildfire the buzzing started again, girls huddling together to speak their mind without anyone else noticing. Rong wondered if school life was really like this.

The young man turned to his teacher and asked, "So where should I sit?".

"There's an empty seat right by the back. If there's anything you'd like to know, just ask me or any of your classmates.", the teacher smiled kindly at the young man.

Rong nodded as he sought out the seat. He found it near the classroom door a girl he didn't know separating him from freedom. Such a convenient seat.

Classes finished for the moment and it was finally lunch time. Yes, one full wonderful hour of peace where he could finally catch up on his sleep.

"Rong-kun~~!"

"Rong-kun!"

"Rong-kun~ "

"**Rong-kuuun~!"**

Or not.

The teen looked around his seat and found himself completely surrounded by his female classmates. Really, something was wrong with this. "Yes?", he tried to seem polite.

"Are you really an international criminal?"

"What did you do?"

"Are you dangerous?"

"Is it true that you pilot a machine that can beat the IS?"

Rong held his head as it began to ache from the lack of sleep and the noise all around him. Someone please save him.

"Hey Rong!", a loud voice broke through the din.

All the girls went quiet at the familiar way the young man was called. All of them were wondering who it was.

A blonde girl strode into their classroom and easily parted the girls with her hands, impressive considering there were quite a number of them, about half-a-dozen who were petrified on the spot. "There you are!", the girl smiled as she pulled the young man out of his seat. She easily lifted him by the collar and began to drag him out of the class while cheerily humming a tune.

In the meantime Rong was covering ears and thinking to himself, 'Forget war, socializing is hell.".

* * *

><p>"You know.", the blonde girl from before grumbled as she poked at Rong, "I brought you all the way out here to get some lunch. The least you can do is at least stay awake long enough to eat.". The girl poked him again, though this time it was more of a jab. In the stomach.<p>

Rong rubbed the sore spot where he'd been hit and deigned to look around, thinking he'd be hit a second time. For the second time that morning, sunlight assaulted the young man's eyes. He'd been sleeping so wonderfully while being dragged around by the blonde. Now his eyes had to adjust again and this time the sunlight came full blast, no curtains separating the sensitive nerves and the scorching light. Rong forced himself to sit-up and noticed the shrubbery and the oddly wonderful view of the school over the horizon. He turned to the blonde girl beside him, "Where are we Fillia?"

"School roof.", her reply was curt and efficient. It seemed she still had some of those extra convenience store bentos from yesterday's dinner. Dear God it was the worst night of Rong's life.

To clarify the situation, right now Rong was in the clutches of his companion, Fillia Auckburn. She's a contender for becoming the next American IS representative. She's tall at about 185 cm. Which makes some guys feel pretty self-conscious standing next to her. It was the same for Rong. It did not help at all that Fillia looked and acted absolutely awkward for her height. For looks, despite her tall height and athletic build, she has the softest cheeks barely molding to the bones with skin like white marble and wide gray eyes that would make a baby doe's look sinister in comparison. As for how she acts...let's just say that Rong didn't get much sleep the night before because Fillia decided that wandering off on her own with strange men in a country that you don't know is a good idea.

The young man noticed that there were three other bento laid out on the grass with packaged chopsticks sitting on top of them. He scratched his head, may as well. He pulled one over and opened it to find some nice chicken karaage. He dug in noticing that the contents were still piping hot. "I thought these were from last night.", Rong questioned as he stuffed his face with a piece of kaarage and sauce slathered rice.

"Oh? It is.", she answered happily as she continued her meal.

"Then why is it still hot?"

Fillia wiped her mouth roughly with her sleeves before grinning at Rong, "The lunch lady heated it up for us. That was really nice of her.". The exuberant blonde cheered.

"I guess.", Rong shrugged, working on the last few bites of his bento before reaching for the next one. "By the way, how's Elmyra progress on getting Swordbreaker released?"

Fillia met Rong's thoughtful eyes before fiddling with her rice and chopsticks. "Well last I heard things were still kind of complicated. The official statement is that it's still being checked for probable dangers but sis suspects that they just want a head-start in studying it before anyone else.". Fillia shrugged, "Well it doesn't matter how much we ask. All we can really do is wait till clearance is given.". The girl continued her meal, leaving Rong in thought.

The boy picked at his rice thinking, 'What am I doing here anyway?'

* * *

><p>It's finally after classes. Well technically it wasn't but the afternoons were for practical exercises with the IS. How is that a problem? Well to put it simply IS can only be piloted by women. The reasons are unknown but as a highly dangerous piece of top tier overtech, IS are decidedly years beyond what conventional technology has achieved. There has only been one incident that could demonstrate it's overwhelming abilities but that in single incident has already carved the fear of the IS deep into the hearts of many, perhaps too deep and too many. The White Knight incident as it was called was named after the lone IS which deflected 2341 ballistic missiles headed straight for Japan, after which it drove back the whole of the armed forces of several super powers of the time. It was truly a fearsome thing with confirmed abilities for energy weapon, supersonic flight and agility that far surpassed anything imaginable at the time. It was due to that incident that the Alaska treaty was formed.<p>

No country will dispatch the IS as a military force.

No country will hoard IS research and development.

Japan must establish an institution to raise and develop IS's and their pilots. This institution must be open to all countries. All breakthroughs and developments in the study of IS are to be handled by the school.

These are the guidelines of the Alaska treaty.

Right now, Rong, being a male, could not pilot an IS and was promptly sent away by the teacher at that time. He was bored out of his wits and if anything he was headed back to his dorm for a nap. However he'd promised his friend, Fillia that he'd help her train after her class so here he was headed to arena no.2 which was famous for being a favored training spot for the it's lack of use.

When Rong got there, he only rubbed his forehead in annoyance. "Fillia, rumors are not the most reliable sources of information.", he muttered under his breath as he watched three pairs of IS battling it out with each other. It looked like a 3-on-3 mock battle.

Deciding to just sit down and enjoy the show, the young man found a nice spot on the bleachers to slowly nod off.

He was almost asleep when an explosion rocked him awake. "What th- Seriously?", Rong cursed his luck.

Down at the arena one of the combatants was pulling herself out of the wall. All the while she screamed, "Hey that one hurt!". It was interesting to note that despite the girl herself being small in stature, her IS unit was rather large and bulky. It was as if the one who assigned her the personal unit was well aware of the irony of making such a petite girl wear such a hulking suit.

"Hohoho!", the odd haughty laugh came from the other side of the field. Another blonde, as Rong noted with twitching eyes, in a blue IS unit. She looked like a long range sniper unit. However it was evident to Rong that was not the case. The girl in blue was an all range assist unit. It was easy for him to recognize the remote bits flying around since he'd used a similar system before. If used properly the girl could probably lay waste to a whole base on her own. But it seemed that she had yet to tap into all of the system's potential, rather maybe the system was not built with enough potential to match the concept. The girl continued laughing before saying, "This shows exactly how much I have improved these past few weeks.".

"Oh yeah?", the little girl rose, "That's nothing. I'll show you what level of skill an IS representative cadet should be at!". After that declaration, she went barreling into the other girl again.

Rong scratched his head, 'These are IS representative cadets?'. He leaned forward and tried to pay attention to the way they fought. Other than the orange and black machine practically destroying each other, those other units didn't seem all that good in combat at all. From what he could glean, they seemed to be more reliant on their IS' abilities rather than their own. Instead of developing their own style, they just took what the IS gave them and went with it.

WHAP!

"Whoa!", Rong nearly dove forward from the force that slapped him on the back.

"Gotcha!", laughed Fillia as she walked around the young man. She looked over to the field and saw the IS battle going on. "So have you taken up ogling girls?", she joked.

Rong rolled his eyes before leaning back, "You said the field would be empty.".

Fillia's lips turned into a small frown saying, "Well that's what I was told.".

"You should've just reserved it.", Rong grumbled with a sigh.

"I did!", Fillia stomped her foot in protest, "But those administration fellows said it was first come first serve.". The girl humphed and crossed her arms, "They were the ones who told me that nobody ever came to the second arena.".

"So...", Rong tried to stifle a yawn, "Can I go back to my dorms for some sleep now?".

"No.", Fillia declared pointedly. "You promised to help me train everyday and you will do that! If not wouldn't you be ashamed as a man?".

Rong scratched his head. "I guess?", he shrugged. The sleepy young man got up on his feet and rubbed his eyes. "Anyway, if you really insist on this we should probably get to the hangars first and set-up. I doubt that these guys will be finishing soon but simulator practice should be good in that time, right?", he suggested to Fillia.

At those words, the girl's troubled expression turned into one of excitement. "Yeah!", she nodded eagerly.

* * *

><p>It didn't take long for the two of them to settle in arena two's hangar. Fillia brought in her IS, a new mass production unit made by one of the many defense contractors of the military. It was meant to be an experimental model for a mainstay third generation IS. So technically it's not a personal IS because like most other mass units, the personalization and maximizing settings are disabled but the long term pilot for the machine would be Fillia.<p>

Rong sat in one corner as Fillia suited up. On his lap was a laptop with multiple windows popping in and out sporadically and his hands were typing at speeds that were arguably faster than those popping windows. Values on screen kept changing as milliseconds would on a clock. His eyes stared at the screen, not blinking for anything. Then he spoke, "The calibrations are a bit off for your style of battle. I'm going to reconstruct the servos to match your movements better.".

"Okay.", Fillia hummed to herself. "So...", she asked in curiosity. "Those were representative cadets?".

Rong grunted, "Apparently.".

Fillia smiled, "You seem annoyed.". She leaned into her IS, "How'd you rate them?".

Rong snorted again, "That's kind of difficult considering the vast difference in skill of each one.".

"Doesn't seem like we'll be going anywhere for awhile so would you mind indulging me here?"

"Okay.", Rong nodded slightly. "Where would you like to start?".

"Mmm...", Fillia thought to herself. "As a whole, do you think there's much difference between me and them?".

"There is a difference but not by much. The difference between you and them is the type of experience you have. Theirs is simulated battle experience from all the mock battles they've had and the sparring matches that accumulate into skills. Yours is experience in actual battle, if anything they'll be a boon to you."

"Oh really?", Fillia watched him with a skeptical glance.

"Yeah, with how much I was beating you, I'm sure you would've developed some sense in dodging by now.", Rong grinned a bit at that.

Fillia's cheeks turned scarlet in embarassment as she protested, "Hey, that's no fair! I was at a disadvantage that time, a dis-ad-van-tage.".

"It's not exactly our fault you came out unarmed, plus we offered to set you up then."

"I don't deal with bad guys.", Fillia huffed.

"So I'm a bad guy now?"

"I didn't say that!", Fillia almost screamed indignantly. "Anyway back on topic. I want to hear your opinion on each of their skills.".

Rong paused his typing and looked at his friend, "Are you really that concerned over it?".

Fillia looked down, "I'm a candidate you know. I have to know about the competition even if I'm not the actual representative yet.".

"Big heads must be common between weaklings and idiots. I wonder which one you are.", Rong looked thoughtful, "Or are you both?".

"SHUT UP!"

Rong covered his ears and grimaced at the abyssmally loud voice of his companion. "Yeesh, fine fine.", he smiled. "Go on.", he urged the girl as he worked the keyboard again.

"Let's go with their countries alphabetically.", Fillia suggested. "I'm pretty sure the purple one with the huge swords was China's Shenlong.".

"You mean that one piloted by the little girl?"

"Yeah. I heard that it was pretty abrupt that China got a new representative cadet so I don't know much about her. What can you say?"

"She's a skilled melee fighter and seems to have a grasp at basic ranged combat. You're similar to her in that you prefer a close-ranged encounter than anything else. On ranged skills, she doesn't seem to have much range to her attacks so I doubt she has the precision of a sniper like you do."

"So I'm better than her at shooting?"

"No.", Rong corrected her immediately, "You definitely have better skills when it comes to accurate shooting but you have a problem with your shots whenever you're placed under a time limit or when it's a critical shot. In short, your skills are not suitable for combat situations."

"Gee, thanks.", Fillia rolled her eyes. "Next up is the English representative. Her name is Cecilia Alcott and the unit is the Blue Tears.".

"You seem to be well informed on her.", Rong noted the small tidbit.

"Well, it seems she's been the representative cadet for a while now. The length of her time as a representative is quite impressive considering the number of people vying for such a position."

"So with a name like Blue Tears it should be safe for me to assume that she was the one in the blue unit right? Well, she certainly has some level of skill if she's piloting such a troublesome machine."

"Troublesome? The Blue Tears looks like a top class machine to me.", a look of confusion spread across Fillia's face.

"Those bit units", Rong verbally pointed out. "aren't easy to control. I can tell from the way that she struggles from where she's standing. She talks to hide it but her concentration is being spent just by moving those units. It doesn't help that for experienced bit users like me that those remote weapons were moving far too sluggishly. No speed, no power, no agility.".

"That's pretty harsh.".

"Her sniping skills are combat ready, a far cry from yours. I don't doubt that she could be an all range combatant given proper training."

"And that one's just plain mean."

"So who's ne- hmm... forget it. I'm finished with the fixes. We can start with your training now.", Rong folded the laptop and stepped up to the IS.

"Hm? I thought we were going to do simulator practices?"

Rong scratched his head, "Well that was the plan but you seemed to be interested in those representative cadets.".

"What does that have to do with anything?", Fillia's voice rose in bewilderment.

"Rather than just talking about their good points and bad points, I think it's better to fly alongside them.", he looked at Fillia, a spark of intrigue in his eyes. "Don't you think so?".

The blonde girl shook her head, "Guess so.". She breathed in deeply and recited, "Initializing IS. Systems green. All checks: okay. I'm ready to go.".

"Field's clear."

"Fillia Auckburn. Arke-progenita moving out."

* * *

><p>Rong watched as the IS was flung into the air by the launch catapult. "Well, better get to my post.", slowly he walked back towards the bleachers.<p>

Ichika spun to the right, barely dodging his opponent's over-head slash. He lost sight of her for only a moment but found her again right in his face with both swords set to cut him. "Whoa!", he exclaimed as he barely brought up the Yukihira Niigata in time to block. He pushed the crimson attacker off and half-shouted, "Are you seriously trying to kill me Houki?".

The girl with the split pony-tail looked very angry as she answered, "Shut up! Training isn't any good if you're not serious!". She swung one of her two katanas, Karaware, in its second mode to fire off a blade shaped beam at the young man.

Ichika deftly dove to avoid the attack. Quickly picked up Houki in his hyper-sensors and blanched as she prepared to swing the other katana. "What are you so angry about!".

"Amatsuki!", Houki roared as she thought back to the way Ichika was so close with Charlotte. Asking for pointers her foot, he was definitely flirting!

Ichika activated Setsura's shield function to block the attacks. He was running low on energy but then again that had always been his machine's, Byakushiki's, problem. The rain of beams slammed into him but he pushed through.

Houki expected a counter attack, but she didn't quite expect the speed at which Ichika was going at her. 'Ignition boost!', she recognized.

It took both of her katanas to block the Reiraku Byakuya powered Yukihira. This left Houki open to the Setsura's energy claw. It came just as she expected so she countered by backflipping with both of her foot blades active.

Ichika right from the start wasn't aiming for Houki. Rather when he deployed the energy claw, he was more concerned with disabling her so he was aiming for her foot blades right from the beginning.

Both weapons clashed causing sparks to fly.

"Hey guys! Mind if I join you?"

A voice carried over the general comm-link.

Ichika looked over to an unfamiliar machine. It was decidedly bulky, almost reminding him of a cross between Charlotte's Rafael and Rin's Shenlong. In its hands was a huge assault rifle that made the Vent, Charlotte's gun which he'd used before, look like a peashooter in comparison. Unsurprisingly, the pilot was a girl.

"I don't see any problems.", Ichika answered neutrally.

Unbeknownst to him however, his companions were incredibly tense at the new arrival.

"Who is she?"

All of the girls who were practicing with Ichika thought this one question. They all fell into a defensive mind-set wondering if she was trying to get Ichika as well, especially since she approached him directly and not one of them. Houki was the first to act on her thoughts.

"Who are you?", she questioned roughly.

The girl tipped her head, confused at the show of hostility. "My name is Fillia, Fillia Auckburn.", the girl introduced herself. "I am an IS representative hopeful and I was wondering if I could have the honor of practicing alongside actual Representative candidates.".

Houki grimaced as she heard those words. They were sweet, too sweet. Flattery like poisoned honey or so they say. However, the way this girl spoke with such honest amiable eyes that never looked away from hers spoke of earnestness that bordered on innocent. She felt horrid for questioning this girl's intentions.

"Well in that case, let this Cecilia Alcott, the English representative candidate be your opponent."

Cecilia quickly introduced herself as she approached the group. For whatever reason, her mood went into a complete one-eighty. She seemed honestly delighted with Fillia.

"That's good. You're perfect for warming up.", Rin snickered as she floated to Ichika's side.

"What was that?", Cecilia cried in indignation.

"Hey guys, what's going on?", Charlotte appeared with Laura in tow. It seemed that the two of them were in some serious combat practice. Compared to everyone else, they looked to be in a state that their IS could fall apart at any minute.

Ichika stared at the pair, not sure which issue to address first. He decided that he was more worried about their physical state than their lack of information. "Are you two going to be alright?".

Laura looked at him and sighed sharply as she looked away. "It's nothing. We're fine.".

"Ah, I see."

"Ichika."

The young man in question looked at the speaker. It was Charlotte, and she had her abandoned-in-the-rain-puppy look on her face.

'HNNGG!'

Ichika was understandably, stunned.

"That's mean of you to ignore me.", Charlotte pouted.

"Sorry."

Byakushiki's pilot hung his head. He could never win against this girl. Sure he normally let girls have their way but Charlotte was different. But back to the issue at hand.

"We're fighting a 3-on-3 team battle. With you joining in we'll be at 7.", Houki looked troubled as she tried to solve the problem of uneven teaming.

"Why not just go for a free for all?", Rin suggested.

"That's a pretty good idea Rin."

"That is the most logical conclusion.", Cecilia agreed.

"Forming teams would be hard given these conditions.", Charlotte followed up.

"I have no complaints about the stipulations.".

Ichika looked at Fillia, "That should be okay right?".

Nodding excitedly, Fillia agreed, "That would be great!".

"Fillia."

"Rong!"

All the IS pilots looked at Fillia oddly. She noticed and realized something.

"Private line, idiot.", Rong sighed over the line.

"No need to insult me.", Fillia grumbled.

"Anyway, I'm glad that you're making friends up there but don't forget that we're here for practice and we're still running tests on Arke. I'll be collecting combat data on N-Force-Air so I'd appreciate it if you don't use the dress system yet."

"Roger that."

"What was that?", Rin asked, referring to Fillia's sudden outburst.

"Oh, that was my friend, Rong.".

"Wait, Rong?"

"What is it Ichika?"

Houki looked at the young man who cried out in instinct.

"I thought the name was familiar. He's my room mate. You know, the second guy ever admitted to IS academy and the first non-pilot student ever admitted.".

"Hm...", Charlotte hummed, "Now that you mention it I've heard about it on the news. A boy was enrolled into IS academy as the second ever male student, but instead of studying IS, it's for the sake of studying that machine he pilots. What was it called? A...E?"

"Astra Exodus 001 Swordbreaker. That's Rong's machine.", Fillia said with a small smile.

"Astra Exodus? Kind of a cheesy name.", Rin stuck her tongue out.

"Infinite Stratos isn't exactly poetic either pipsqueak.". Rong's dark voice suddenly became heard over the general line. "Now are we going to practice or are you just keeping me sleep-deprived?".

"Maybe both.", Fillia blew a raspberry into the communicator.

"Real mature."

"Let's go guys!", Fillia rocketed upwards.

The others mentally shrugged before scattering to get into a good position for picking out targets.

* * *

><p>Down at the stands, Rong sat watching the battle's progress. It wasn't clear at first but it looked like each had a target in mind even before the melee began. Fillia had decided to challenge the Blue Tears of England first. Blue Tears however was locked in combat Shenlong forcing them into a three way dogfight. The other four were busy with each other, the Rafael Revive was fighting both Scwarzer Regen and Ichika. Though, Ichika was also being chased by that unit, Akatsubaki, who seemed to really hate Ichika at that moment.<p>

It was none of his business, none of his business at all. Keeping himself from being entertained too much, Rong kept his eyes trained on the laptop in front of him. The values he was getting of the Arke-Progenita were astounding. The speed and power of this unit was completely different from those that he'd fought against back in Nevada. Despite not being listed officially as a third generation IS and more of a 2.5, it was doing fairly well against the others.

On screen were seven windows that Rong was tabbing through, one for each unit. He was comparing the actual performance values to intelligence data. He typed in his observations and thought about how he would fight back himself if he ever went up against any of these units. Everything seemed to be shaping up well but there was one unit that caught his eye.

"Akatsubaki."

Rong muttered the machine's name. The theoretical numbers and the actual numbers were too far from each other. The others at best showed an eight percent error but Akatsubaki's just spiked anywhere and everywhere from ten to sixty. To say it was a pain is an understatement. Theoretically, being the only true fourth generation IS within the field according to the data, it should be able to wipe the floor with all those other units. However, it seems the performance shows many abnormalities. The acceleration which is overall fast, sometimes decreases then increases again almost as if the machine is unsure of what speed it should be at.

Why?

Rong paused his work to think as he stared at the screen. "Even though you're a teacher, I can't believe you got this close to me without my noticing.", Rong looked behind him. His eyes met with the darkest black eyes he'd seen in a while. "Are you sure you were never a soldier? First brunhilde, Orimura Chifuyu.".

The IS instructor said nothing as she approached the young man. She opened her mouth and

WHAP!

Rong's head throbbed as he grabbed at it.

"That's Orimura-sensei to you.", Chifuyu smacked the young man on the head again.

"What was the second one for!"

"You that was for being rude."

"So not calling you sensei and being rude are two different offenses?"

"Yes."

WHAP!

"The hell was the third one for!"

"For questioning me."

WHAP!

"And that's for swearing."

'Who is this crazy woman?', Rong wondered in half a daze as he tried to stop white spots and little birds from overrunning his vision.

"Ho~... You seem to be one busy bee.", the woman hummed as she watched the records on the laptop's screen.

"O-Oi! Get away from there!", Rong wrapped his arms defensively around the laptop.

Chifuyu watched him with impassive eyes. "Calm down, I just came to check up on an idiot.", she looked at the battle that was going on.

Rong looked at his laptop and noticed that the Akatsubaki's performance ratings were no longer moving and its status read "INACTIVE", same went for Blue Tears and Scwarzer Regen. Rong looked up again and saw that indeed, the pilots of the aforementioned machines were nowhere in sight. They probably returned to the control zones lest they get in the way after having their IS forcefully deactivated.

Fillia was locked in a four way sword fight. This kind of combat was one where Byakushiki and Shenlong had decidedly great advantages considering their armaments.

"That idiot should really watch his shield reserves.", the woman beside Rong sighed.

Just as she said this, Rong quickly turned his head back to the scene to see Byakushiki freeze up and descend at a rate which was considered barely safe.

He turned to the laptop and it also said that the white machine was now inactive as well.

"Well, that was way too quick."

Rong quickly began typing again. Reiraku Byakuya was certainly a devastating one-off ability that Byakushiki had but it was much too draining on the system. The fact that the IS itself had roughly sixty percent the shield of most other IS in comparison, this seemed like a huge design flaw. But this design flaw seemed to have its own upsides. Since it has only one real function, the pilot has less to focus on. There is no need to second guess what would the best move be in that given situation. This upside however, has been erased when Byakushiki entered second shift. The addition of the Setsura unit forces the current pilot, Orimura Ichika to learn when each weapon and function is best used. Instead of having only one option, now many options are open to him and this only complicates matters. Sometimes it's not evident but in real battle it can cause a moment's hesitation and that hesitation will weigh heavily on the result of the battle.

WHAP!

"What the-? What now!", Rong half-screamed at the instructor beside him. It was just his fortune to look as the second hit came.

WHAP!

"Don't shout at your teachers.", Chifuyu sighed. "And sorry on the first one. You reminded me of a someone I know and my reflexes just kicked in."

Rong looked at her as if she'd grown a second head. He'd heard Chifuyu Orimura was an exceptional IS pilot and he was not disappointed by her. Chifuyu's mere presence spoke volumes of her battle experience and skill as a warrior. It was a surprise to learn that she had such an odd personality quirk. Deciding to keep quiet before she decided to hit him again, he continued his work.

WHAP!

"Really... Why me? Why my head? What am I doing that's setting you off?", Rong calmly turned to Chifuyu as she held her right wrist which was holding her personal data tablet.

"It's that typing speed. It reminds me of an annoying little rabbit that I always smacked in the head.".

"Ah...", Rong stared at her. This woman is dangerous.

* * *

><p>Fillia breathed heavily. From the initial number of seven it was just two of them now. The .72 assault rifle that Arke-Progenita wielded was currently discarded on the ground, some fifty meters from their altitude. About two dozen feet away from it was one of Arke-Progenita's knives. Right now, Fillia had in hand were the second knife and one of the two 13mm handguns which were the unit's sidearms.<p>

Opposite the newcomer was a very badly worn-out but still battle-ready Rafael Revive. Charlotte currently had Gray Scale out in one hand and the Bread Slicer knife in the other. All of the stabilizer extensions on her right side were clear gone and it was a wonder that she was still moving like she was undamaged.

"As expected of the Rafael.", Fillia breathed heavily as she kept the handgun trained at Charlotte.

Charlotte brought the Bread Slicer up into a defensive stance. "You seem familiar with the model.", she commented.

"I used to pilot the basic model. It actually took me a few minutes before I realized it was a customized version."

"Thank you for noticing."

Both machines charged at one another. Fillia and Charlotte's knives sparked as they clashed.

Passing each other by, Fillia quickly recovered and fired shots from her side-arm at the Rafael.

Charlotte quickly into a rising turn, her left hand now held a .55 caliber Vent assault rifle that was spitting bullets at the Arke-Progenita.

Fillia weaved the air in a complicated pattern, dodging the shots from Charlotte. This was easier said than done considering the French representative's skill. Before noticing it, Charlotte had already closed the distance, bringing the Bread Slicer to bear.

Fillia responded instinctively, diving in to turn the fight into a contest of strength.

Their knives locked and it was all the other could do to keep their balance. The lock was broken when Charlotte pulled away to sneak the Gray Scale into striking position.

Not one to shy away, Fillia aimed her handgun at Charlotte's torso.

They fired at the same time. One hoping to seal the battle in one shot, the other charging head on to meet blow for blow.

Fillia lost altitude as she spiraled down but she wasn't that worse off compared to Charlotte. The Arke was hit with a more powerful weapon but the Rafael was substantially damaged already from the previous confrontations.

The American pilot recovered quickly enough but the French representative was having more difficulty to right herself.

"So is this the limit?", Fillia wondered, watching the orange machine try to settle. She flew forward but found her machine unresponsive. "What?", she half-shrieked.

"She has amazing aim."

It was Rong's voice through the radio.

"That shot with the piledriver was aimed precisely at your armor's joints. You've brought her shields down, but she got your core."

"Is it bad?", Fillia panicked as thoughts of getting billed for damaging highly expensive military hardware went through her head.

"What are you talking about? The barrier took most of it but the wiring to the core seemed to get screwed up a bit. There's no real problem other than the core reading your shields as zero."

"So that means..."

"You better get down fast before the automatic shut down kicks in."

Too late.

AAH!

Fillia screamed as she plummeted to the ground.

WHOMP!

She fell onto something relatively soft. Cautiously, Fillia placed a hand down and ran it over the surface of her landing spot. It was a bit lumpy and hard in some places but it was warm.

"Um... Awkward as things stand, I'm still going to ask. Are you alright?"

Fillia looked down at where she landed and turned a bright shade of red. "Ah! Ah! Ah!", she hyperventilated.

Ichika was beneath her, literally so. It seemed he had caught her when she fell. The result of that was Fillia being unharmed and Ichika lying on his back, red-faced, with a clueless blonde sitting on his stomach. To his mortification and his instinctual delight, she had traced her hand over his chest. He was quite unsure whether it was fear or excitement that coursed through him at her touch.

Oh, his heart ached at the pace it was going. For the love of all that was right in the world, how could someone so big look so cute? She was nearly three inches taller than him! Ichika could make out the beet red tinge on her alabaster face.

* * *

><p>"Wow, she's pretty direct.".<p>

"Side-effects of being an idiot."

Rong palmed his face as he and Chifuyu watched the events that transpired in the arena. Ichika was trying to get Fillia off him while being a gentleman about it. Fillia on the other hand, reacted like the idiot she was and began to beat down on him. The other girls who were within sight were either staring in disbelief, or looked like they were about to kill something.

"You look calm for someone about to lose his girlfriend."

"And you look calm for bro-con sister while her brother is in a compromising position."

Chifuyu pulled out her data tablet again as she tried to supress the murderous urges that ran through her at that moment.

"And she's not my girlfriend.", Rong said this solemnly.

The, suddenly, emotionless expression on the boy's face made her stop from administering her normal punishment. She sighed, "Well that kid's just my brother. If he gets a girl, that's his business.".

Rong kept his eyes on the elder Orimura as she said this. He sighed inwardly as he observed the right hand that held the data pad clench tightly.

Deciding to be merciful for once, Rong broke the glare that Chifuyu held. "Is it really okay for a teacher to check on a student due to personal relations?"., he asked.

WHAP!

As expected.

"Don't think of such stupid things.", Chifuyu sighed, "I'm a professional.". She looked back to the scene where all the girls, including Fillia and excluding Charlotte were stomping down on Ichika. "I actually came here to ask about your machine.", the IS instructor turned back to the teen beside her. "You're here in IS academy so that your country won't be liable for breaching the Alaska Treaty right?".

Rong snorted, "It's not my country.".

Chifuyu's lips lifted a bit in amusement. "Right, terrorist wasn't it?", she asked. "Either way, it's troublesome for you not to have a machine. Right now we're excusing you from the requirement of practicals but we'll need to fix that soon.".

Rong looked at her skeptically, "I can't pilot an IS."

"I'm not saying you have to. I'm saying you should get your machine here as soon as possible.".

"Tell that to the American government.", Rong sighed as he quickly wrapped up the data he'd just obtained. He'd sort it all out and do the analysis later. Hell, he'd probably just send it back to the labs that wanted the data. It wasn't his work to begin with, just that the Arke-Progenita's pilot wasn't up for these kinds of things.

"We're already making the inquiry. We're just hoping that you aren't helping them breach treaty conditions."

With the laptop all ready and folded up, Rong stood ready to leave.

"The Astra Exodus is admittedly a technology that is based off the Infinite Stratos. However, the machine in itself is not an Infinite Stratos. Those conditions cannot apply to it.".

"True.", Chifuyu turned her head to meet the former terrorist's eyes. "However the fact that it has been said that the AE was able to single-handedly take down an IS leaves the world on the brink of a power struggle. Countries with the IS are all in an arms race to see who can produce the most powerful IS. The treaty itself only serves as a protective talisman of sorts against the demons of war. When these demons are strong enough, even that talisman won't be enough.".

The corners of Rong's lips lifted a bit. "Quite poetic for a warrior. Still, don't underestimate the AE.", he walked past her and whispered a few words.

Chifuyu watched him walk away with her mind preoccupied with the words he'd left her.

"Even Shinonono Tabane herself would not be able to unravel all the secrets of the AE."

* * *

><p>AUTHOR'S NOTE: Can anyone teach me how to fix FFnet's auto text formatting? It's messing up the formatting I like. And I don't own IS and stuff.<p> 


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